Golden Sun 3: Tides of Order
by Icymisto
Summary: Alex returns to take revenge upon the adepts who meddled with his plans last time, but a new adept arrives ... is it for better or worse? R&R guys.... thanks alot! ! New update CHAPTER 5! Please review guys, getting desperate here ;)
1. Prologue: Awakening

Prologue: Awakening  
  
It was the same stormy night that the people of Vale remembered as a tragic  
  
event, 3 years before the mighty quest of Garet and Isaac began. The group of warriors  
  
seeking the power of the elements entered Sol Sanctum and there, all of them perished  
  
except for the two Mars adepts Saturos and Menardi. The volcano had erupted and it was  
  
believed that Felix, his parents, and Isaac's father were killed in the disaster. Tears come  
  
to the people of Vale's eyes when they remember that sad night, but for one boy, it was a  
  
glorious moment as his dormant psynergy powers were awakened. Before the storm, he  
  
was playing out on the mountainside but could not get back once Mount Aleph began to  
  
erupt. For a while, he believed he would die from the storm, but his hopes rose when he  
  
saw the two antagonists escape from the sanctum. With the appearance of other people  
  
heading down the mountain, the child immediately followed them in hopes of returning  
  
back home. Within moments, he was back safely at home and remained undetected by the  
  
two he trailed behind. But, once he had reached his home, he realized that those two were  
  
not normal, especially Saturos. Being a young curious child, he decided to follow Saturos  
  
and Menardi until they left Vale. Then, on the way down, he witnessed the outmatched  
  
Garet and Isaac fight the two experienced adepts. With a one swift stroke of Mars  
  
psynergy, Menardi dispatched the two youngsters, and as Isaac and Garet fell defeated,  
  
the boy screamed in horror as his childhood friends lay there, looking dead.  
  
Unfortunately, Saturos had heard the boy's cry and immediately grabbed him.  
  
"Ah, so I see," the fire adept chuckled, "You must be very scared, seeing how we  
  
got rid of those whelps so easily. Would you like a taste of my power, boy?"  
  
"Saturos, this is wasting our time! We must be off before we are detected by the citizens of Vale!"  
  
Not deciding to listen to his partner, Saturos dropped the boy and stood back, and  
  
suddenly multitudes of harmful fireballs emerged out of his hand and headed for the  
  
helpless child. The boy found it impossible for his feet to move, so all he could do was  
  
cry and hope for help. Moments later, the boy realized that the psynergy had not hit him,  
  
and instead the fireballs had been reflected right back at his attackers! The other two were  
  
just as surprised as him, and their own weapons directly hit them. When the smoke  
  
cleared, Saturos stood there lightly bruised, yet his same surprised expression was still on  
  
his face.  
  
"That's...impossible!" he sputtered, "How could that be? The kid blocked my  
  
Inferno attack! Menardi, that's incredible... no! You will die!"  
  
Bracing his sword, Menardi halted her companion from such brash tactics.  
  
"Saturos, forget him, it was some sort of fluke," she said, "If you did again, I'm  
  
sure you would annihilate the boy, but right now we have greater problems. We  
  
must leave here before they catch us!"  
  
Without another word, the duo left the scene, leaving the boy standing in the rain,  
  
wondering why and what had just happened. His body felt different, like as if another  
  
living force was inside of him, constantly traveling through his body like blood. He felt  
  
stronger with this new energy, and to see if he truly had discovered something new within  
  
him, he reached his hand out at a nearby dead stump. Without much work, the stump  
  
suddenly was rooted out from the earth and disintegrated. What was this power? 


	2. I: Tremors

I: Tremors  
  
It was a quiet evening at the Junction Grotto tavern in Vault. The bartender,  
  
Norman, was washing and cleaning the mugs of his last customers, who had left  
  
only minutes ago. Suddenly a noise was heard from outside, but Norman couldn't  
  
see anybody through the windows near the entrance. Sensing that trouble was  
  
coming, he began to focus himself and prepared to unleash his newfound  
  
psynergy out on the person that was next to enter the bar. The door swung open,  
  
and Norman opened his eyes and relaxed as Garet and Isaac entered through the  
  
door.  
  
"Boy, you guys gave me a scare!" he laughed weakly, "I was worried it was some  
  
goons trying to steal my money again...thinking they can influence me with their  
  
new magical powers."  
  
"Well, you got no problems Norman," Garet smiled confidently, "With me here,  
  
no one would dare try to pull a robbery on you... and of course Isaac, too."  
  
"What would you boys like? A lil beer? Wine? Whiskey?"  
  
"Give me two cups of your finest beer!" Garet laughed.  
  
"Who said I liked beer?" Isaac asked.  
  
"You don't..." Garet said, "Which is why I'm taking yours!"  
  
"I'm never letting you order again for me, Garet."  
  
Norman acknowledged Garet's requests and went back to retrieve beers since he  
  
already locked up the alcohol. Suddenly, the entrance door opened loudly as several men  
  
entered the tavern, laughing, and hooting, hoping to have a good time.  
  
"I hate to tell you this," Norman said to the men as he returned, "But we're  
  
closed. I'm just giving these gentlemen a quick drink."  
  
"Oh really?" one man piped up from the crowd, "So these kids get drinks but we  
  
can't? Come on, we basically came here at the same time... just do us this favor  
  
old man, not like you wanna get us angry or anything."  
  
"You heard the bartender," Garet smirked, "Only us two get drinks, so the rest of  
  
you buzz off! I've had a busy day, and so now I want some peace and quiet!"  
  
"Did he just say that to us?" another man angrily said, "Listen kid, you have one  
  
hell of a nerve to tell us to go away while you sip your nice cold beer. It's all  
  
about respect, and in fact, since we're older than you two, we should be having  
  
the drinks instead of you!"  
  
"You want some respect from me?" Garet asked as he downed his first cup, "You  
  
have to kill me first."  
  
"That can be arranged!"  
  
"Yeah, like you can beat up one of us!"  
  
"In your dreams, red head!"  
  
"Ok, that's enough, just give them the beers." Isaac said, obviously sick of the  
  
argument.  
  
"No! Isaac, are you nuts?" Garet yelled, "Norman, don't give these bums  
  
anything from your stock!"  
  
With the remark of "bums", the men began to huddle around Garet, and  
  
eventually they pushed away Isaac and had the adept completely surrounded.  
  
"I'm not going to tolerate you any longer kid! You need to learn a lesson, and  
  
we'll give you one!"  
  
Before the men could even touch Garet, he flicked his fingers and suddenly a  
  
circle of flame appeared around him. Seeing he had won, the men began to run out but  
  
then one fired a huge bubble of water and wiped out the flames. They all immediately  
  
turned around and faced Garet once more.  
  
"Oh, I hope you did not just do that..." Garet hissed angrily, "I was holding back,  
  
but now you all pay!"  
  
Garet slammed the ground with his fists and seconds later, spouts of lava emerged  
  
out of the floor under each of the hoodlums as they flew sky high, incinerating  
  
their bottoms.  
  
"GARET, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" Isaac screamed, "You could kill those  
  
people! Stop it right now before I have to make you!"  
  
"Oh calm down, Isaac," Garet said, "They're just getting a tan on their asses,  
  
that's all."  
  
Seeing there was no other way to stop his reckless friend, Isaac prepared to bring  
  
out his djinni Vine so the men could be pulled back down. Before it could take action,  
  
pockets of clouds appeared over all the men and slowly they retuned to the ground as the  
  
rain settled down the rising lava. Isaac looked around and saw finally that Mia was  
  
helping the men out. Once they all were back on the floor, Isaac and Mia rushed over to  
  
them and began to cure and heal them. Meanwhile, Norman stood there motionless, his  
  
eyes staring into the holes in the roof where the towers of fire penetrated through.  
  
"Oh... my beautiful store..." he sputtered, "All these years of finding the right  
  
place, and now it's ruined... because of one lousy miserable kid that lights everything on  
  
FIRE!"  
  
The shock was over and rage took its place within his mind, and as Garet came  
  
over to the old man and apologize, Norman screamed furiously at him and from above, a  
  
storm cloud gathered over the burnt patches in the roof. It continued to grow until it  
  
finally sprayed out dozens of lightning bolts out at Garet and the adept was slowly  
  
weakened. With the final ray of electricity, Garet fell down to the floor and laid  
  
motionless, staring up above right where Norman was looking. But then, he noticed that  
  
the bartender had also fallen, but unlike him, Norman was dead.  
  
Garet, Isaac, and Mia said not a word to each other as the left the disastrous scene  
  
and parted off for their sleeping quarters, each of them having different thoughts on their  
  
minds. Garet was still thinking about Norman and he was still in shock of the old man's  
  
demise. Isaac was wondering on how Norman was able to conjure up such a powerful  
  
wind storm. It had only been two weeks since the lighting of the Mars Lighthouse, and so  
  
it was almost impossible for any person who had just received psynergy to have enough  
  
experience to summon that kind of force, unless Norman trained intensely, but that was  
  
out of the question. Norman was an old man trying to make ends meet and the only thing  
  
he had was the bar, which was now destroyed and burnt by Garet's doing.  
  
However, as Mia went back to the inn, her mind was elsewhere from all that had  
  
happened that evening. She was wondering about Alex, and what had happened to him. It  
  
had been two weeks before that Mt. Aleph sunk into the earth, and Alex has yet to reveal  
  
himself to the world. There were so many things she wanted to say and ask him that day  
  
when Isaac's group met up with Saturos at the Mercury Lighthouse, but with all the  
  
havoc going on at the time, it was impossible. Why did he change? Was he plotting to  
  
steal the elemental lighthouses' powers even before meeting her? Was that why he  
  
became the guardian of the lighthouse? There were so many questions unanswered about  
  
the man that Mia once knew, and she continued to ponder these thoughts as she drifted  
  
into a deep sleep.  
  
"Mia! Wake up, Mia! It is urgent!"  
  
Sheba furiously shook the adept awake.  
  
"What is the problem Sheba?" Mia yawned as she rubbed her eyes, "What's so  
  
important that can wake me up this early?"  
  
"Well, I was training with Ivan," Sheba explained, "And then we both suddenly  
  
foresaw something terrible happening to Imil!"  
  
Mia immediately perked up as she heard that it was about Imil.  
  
"What exactly happened to my hometown Sheba?"  
  
"I cannot explain it too well... but I remember a black hooded figure entering the  
  
houses and he took out a red glowing staff... and he stole the souls of the people, left the  
  
houses, and set them all on fire... a fire in the shade of black. I'm sorry I can't describe  
  
the scene too well."  
  
"Oh dear... that's terrible!" Mia cried, "I must go!"  
  
"Wait, we should go with you just in case! I sensed a strong power from the  
  
warrior stealing the souls!"  
  
Ignoring Sheba's advice, Mia sprung out from her bed and grabbed her clerics  
  
bag, rushing out the door and heading out to Imil. 


	3. II: Return

"Mia, please! You'll need our help!"  
  
"There's no time! I must get to Imil right away!"  
  
Before she could go out the door of the inn, Isaac intruded in on her path and  
  
refused to budge.  
  
"Mia, Ivan's just told me of the news. We can go there together and take on  
  
whoever this antagonist is... your pain is our pain."  
  
Finally, Mia's panicked mind settled and soon she began to realize that by  
  
running off to Imil was not such a great idea, and after all, they had the Lemurian boat in  
  
the river nearby, which could fly to the town.  
  
"Where's Piers?" Mia asked, "We need to use his ship and get there quickly!"  
  
"I'm one step ahead of you Mia!" Garet grinned, coming down the stairs, "I got  
  
the Teleport Lapis, so we can be there instantly!"  
  
As the words came out of his mouth, Garet took out a black prism from his pocket  
  
and gave it to his fellow adept.  
  
"Well, someone's a little too cheery..." Isaac mumbled.  
  
"Listen, we can talk about that later," Garet snapped unusually, "Right now Mia's  
  
town is in trouble, and that's our main priority."  
  
Without a moment to lose, Garet, Mia, Isaac, Ivan, and Sheba braced themselves  
  
to use the teleport lapis, but then they saw Felix, Jenna, and Piers finally join their group.  
  
"Great, we're all here." Isaac said, "Let's move out!"  
  
And so, Mia activated the lapis and after brief flashes of light, the group of adepts  
  
vanished before the very eyes of the townspeople around them.  
Seconds later, they were all on the outskirts of Imil, but by what they had seen,  
  
they were already too late. Houses were burning with black fire, and not a person was in  
  
sight. Mia collapsed onto her knees, shattered by the nightmare she wished she could  
  
prevent from happening. Jenna sat down alongside her and tried to soothe the pains that  
  
Mia was feeling, but it was no use as she continued to mourn her people's demises.  
  
"Well, there's no use crying here about nothing but black fire," Garet snorted,  
  
getting menacing glances back by Isaac and Piers, "...I'm sorry, Mia, but we don't know  
  
what's happened until we go into town, so let's check Imil out."  
  
"Garet, just go already if you're so anxious!" Jenna yelled back, immediately  
  
returning back her attention of Mia.  
  
Obviously hurt, Garet pretended to ignore his crush's remark and charged into the  
  
town, quickly followed by the others. Ivan stared at the burning homes and could not  
  
believe that all that he and Sheba had foreseen came true, and this time for the worse.  
  
Felix and Isaac began to investigate the buildings, but they were all locked, and even  
  
when they tried to kick down the doors, it was no use.  
  
"Stand aside," Garet grunted as he hacked and slashed at the door that Isaac was  
  
trying to get into, but his attempts too were in vain.  
  
"There's only one way," Felix explained, "We must use psynergy."  
  
Isaac's hands molded together a slab of stone and with little effort, the adept  
  
threw the small boulder into the door, but to a surprise to everyone, the door did not  
  
budge. One by one, each of the adepts gave their best shots at the same door, but the  
  
psynergy had no effect whatsoever.  
  
"There must a shield of some sort that blocks off psynergy as well," Piers  
  
speculated, "But there must be a way to get inside! People are probably dying in there!"  
  
Suddenly, a small ominous laugh was heard all around them, and it continued to  
  
grow louder and louder. Arming themselves with their weapons, the adepts searched the  
  
sky for the figure that was chuckling to himself.  
  
"Don't be looking up there, you fools," a calm malicious voice hissed, "I  
  
wouldn't be flying right over your heads, I'm much more craftier than that. You want to  
  
know how to open the doors to save the people of Imil, do you? Ha, you will never break  
  
the seal I have placed on the houses!"  
  
"The voice is too familiar..." Felix whispered to the others.  
  
"But it can't be him," Sheba replied back, "I thought the Wise One got rid of him  
  
when he reached the top of Mount Aleph!"  
  
"Oh, and how wrong you are," the malicious voice ranted on, seeming to know  
  
every word of their conversation, "With this new found power, I will never die! I am the  
  
superior adept here, so bow down to me!"  
  
Immediately, Garet collapsed to the ground and struggled immensely to get up.  
  
Soon after, Sheba and Ivan were laid out on the snow as well. However, the other three  
  
did not succumb to the mysterious man's powers.  
  
"Yes, very interesting," the voice said amusingly, "It is odd how the water adept  
  
and you two manage to withstand my body crushing psynergy. But no matter, I will just  
  
need to add a little more wood to the fire... YOU WILL BOW DOWN TO ME!"  
  
A crack of thunder was heard above, supposedly caused by the building rage of  
  
the evil invisible mage, and soon Piers fell down to the ground and could not get back up.  
  
However, Felix and Isaac remained standing alongside each other, and they were just as  
  
surprised as the mysterious figure.  
  
"Damn the Wise One..." he continued, "Oh yes, I guess you have discovered  
  
your reason for being here. What I have done to Imil was only a mere distraction for you  
  
two to arrive, thus I can finally achieve what I desired since I was a little boy... the pure  
  
power of the Golden Sun!"  
  
Behind the two Earth adepts a growing black shadow appeared until finally a  
  
hooded man appeared from his own shade. Still not noticing the enemy behind them,  
  
Felix and Isaac stood there wondering who should make the next blow. Knowing his spot  
  
would soon be revealed, the mage raised his hands and soon chunks of ice began to  
  
tumble down from the sky upon his two prey. But before they could reach Isaac and  
  
Felix, a wall of flames emerged from the earth and melted the icicles into harmless  
  
flowing water.  
  
"I knew I smelled a rat behind all this!" Jenna smirked as she charged at Alex  
  
with her staff.  
  
"So, you want to play too, hmm?" he chuckled, "Very well, you shall share your  
  
brother's fate. Good bye, dear Jenna."  
  
Before Jenna could get a good blow off of her opponent, a cylindrical block of ice  
  
appeared on all sides of her, preventing her from moving. With the precious little time he  
  
had, Felix rushed in and double slashed the man with the aid of his djinni Echo, quickly  
  
followed by Isaac attacking with Flint. Their enemy crumpled to the ground and suddenly  
  
the rest of the adepts were broken free of his gravity bind. Seeing Jenna frozen in the ice,  
  
Garet immediately unleashed a fury of flames on the pillar and it began to thaw out. After  
  
that matter was solved, they all focused their attention on the briefly fallen warrior, who  
  
had yet to reveal his identity. As he regained his balance and stood up, his hood fell off,  
  
and Mia was the first to realize who their evil adversary was.  
  
"Alex!" Mia cried, "How can this be?"  
  
"Oh dear Mia," Alex weakly smiled, "It is truly a great surprise to me that you are  
  
here as well... I am truly sorry for what has happened here."  
  
"You are lying through your crooked foul teeth!" Mia screamed, "How could you  
  
do this to our own people? After all we did for you in the past... THIS is how you repay  
  
us? What have you done?"  
  
"You have misunderstood my motives, Mia," Alex said, "It will all be clear to  
  
you once I have accomplished my new task. And besides, these are not our people."  
  
"So there is something else about this soul stealing business!" Piers crossly said.  
  
"I was about to kill two birds with one stone, you see," Alex explained, "First I  
  
was here to add these pitiful people's energies to mine... but then all of you came along  
  
before I was done...luckily, I will not need to go through this painstaking process of  
  
going from town to town, stealing psynergy, now that Isaac and Felix are here! The Wise  
  
One was correct to put a bit of the Golden Sun within you two, for he knew I would be  
  
too strong, but now fate will take its course as I take from you what is rightfully mine!"  
  
With a dash of brilliant speed, Alex ran at the group of adepts but none of them  
  
received pain from their attacker.  
  
"Yes..." Alex smiled satisfactorily, "My work is done here."  
  
"What work?" Garet angrily asked, "All you did was some fake hocus pocus on  
  
us, and look, we're not even hurt! Come on, I dare you to fight us! What, you afraid? You  
  
think you're so high and mighty!"  
  
"Oh, but I am," Alex said boastfully, "Thank you for your cooperation... now I  
  
am off to tend to other matters. Until we meet again, adieu."  
  
Garet leaped at the far more experienced mage, but all he attacked was the bare  
  
cold earth. He had just vanished into thin air.  
  
"Nice trick..." Garet snarled, "All right, we'll meet again soon, you mangy son of  
  
a..."  
"Ok, let's get to work, we need to help these people somehow!" Felix interrupted.  
  
Without a moment to lose, the adepts spread out and tried to find a way into the  
  
houses of Imil. Meanwhile, Mia stood stiff and speechless, pondering Alex's remarks...  
  
what did he mean by "they are not our people?" 


	4. III: Sojourn

With Alex fleeing from the fight, the magical seals upon the Imil houses were  
  
broken. Before the adepts could get through the doors, people flooded out of their homes,  
  
appearing unscathed and intact.  
  
"Oh thank goodness," Mia sighed with relief, "Nothing has happened to you."  
  
"These black fires are a cheap magician's tricks," Piers reported as he studied the  
  
embers on the roof, "They have not damaged the houses at all... very odd."  
  
"Ha!" Garet snorted, "I knew that blue-haired freak was all talk... I meant Alex,  
  
Mia."  
  
"This makes no sense," Mia said, "Why would Alex pretend to harm his people.  
  
Didn't you say that he was stealing souls or something, Sheba?"  
  
"Indeed, I foresaw that," Sheba replied, "But your people look fine."  
  
The remark of "your people" rang again in Mia's ears, but she shrugged off the  
  
thought for the time being.  
  
"This was Alex's doing?" one man piped up from the crowd, "How dare he come  
  
back to this town after what he has done!"  
  
"Regardless of how odd this all is," Isaac summarized, "At least none of you were injured by that maniac. Let's head back to Vault, shall we?"  
  
Giving a slight nod to Isaac, Garet reached into his burlap sack and searched for  
  
the teleport lapis that got them here in the first place. However, Garet realized that the  
  
object was missing!  
  
"That's why he did all this!" Garet yelled furiously, "He lured us here so that he  
  
could steal the teleport lapis!"  
  
"Wow, you figured all that on your own," Jenna said sarcastically, "Great job  
  
Garet, I didn't know you were so smart!"  
  
"Cut it out," Felix told his sister, "This is a serious matter. Why would Alex need  
  
the lapis?"  
  
"He's probably trying to go somewhere that is not normally accessible by foot,  
  
sea, or air," Piers concluded, "The only place that comes to my mind is Lemuria, my  
  
home."  
  
"The worst thing now is that we are too far away from Vault to get your ship,"  
  
Ivan remarked, "And even if we do get to Lemuria, whatever Alex plans will probably be  
  
done."  
  
"I believe it is in our best intentions to still go to Lemuria and see what Alex is up  
  
to," Piers said, "As sad as it seems, we all must diverge our paths. As I am a Lemurian, I  
  
will have no trouble with being permitted into Lemuria, so I shall go."  
  
"Take me too!" Mia yelled impulsively, "I mean... you might need some help if  
  
you fight Alex. We do look alike anyways, right? I'm sure the Lemurians won't be able  
  
to tell the difference."  
  
"I do not mind if you come along," Piers said.  
  
"That's dandy and all that you two have figured out what to do," Garet butted in,  
  
"But what are we supposed to do? Where's our action?"  
  
"Isaac, Alex wants us for some reason," Felix said to his fellow Venus adept, "We  
  
should tread softly for the time being while the rest go actively across Weyard."  
  
"Agreed," Isaac confirmed, "In that case, we should stay here in Imil and make  
  
sure that they don't get attacked again."  
  
"And what about..."  
  
"You four go search the rest of Angara and Gondowan for any other suspicious  
  
events," Felix ordered.  
  
"Great, what a thrilling duty," Garet muttered.  
  
After saying their good-byes to Isaac and Felix, the other six adepts began their  
  
journey back to Vault.  
  
"I'm hungry," Garet whined.  
  
"Oh, shut up." 


	5. VI: Incursion

The group of six adepts traveled through the snowy tundra until the sun went  
  
below the horizon. By request from Garet, they stopped for rest and shelter.  
  
"THIS is the best we can do for shelter?" Garet frowned as they made camp  
  
inside a camp, "If I knew that we were gonna live like peasants, I wouldn't have come.  
  
How am I ever going to sleep on this kind of surface?"  
  
Jenna and Mia gave disapproving looks at Garet, thus shutting him up. Never  
  
would he dare to upset Jenna.  
  
"Sometimes I wonder if we're just babysitting you." Jenna muttered, "By the way  
  
you've been acting lately, I can see why your parents want a break from you."  
  
"Hush, it's time to sleep," Piers whispered, "You must remember to keep your  
  
voices down. We don't know what's out there, and Alex could sneak up on us at any  
  
given time."  
  
"Since Garet seems so irritated with sleeping here, why not he just stay up and be  
  
the watchdog?" Ivan suggested.  
  
The rest agreed, and he was placed in front of the cave as a guard, armed with his  
  
trusty Firebrand. One by one, the adepts' eyes closed and they drifted into deep sleeps, all  
  
except for Garet. Bored and frustrated, he decided to take out his favorite djinni, Flash,  
  
out to give him some company. The small fire creature shivered as the chilly air wrapped  
  
around its body like a blanket.  
  
"Hey little buddy," Garet smiled, "I know I know, you want some action right?  
  
Don't worry, we'll fight Alex soon enough, and I'll take him down. He's got no chance  
  
against me, especially since he pissed me off by stealing my teleport lapis."  
  
Garet could see Flash suffering in the cold, so he placed it back in his tunic pocket  
  
and relaxed his head on smooth ice on the rock wall.  
  
Hey, this ain't so bad, he thought, Come to think of it, my body aches from  
  
trudging through the snow... I'm so tired I could just sleep right here...  
  
His eyes slowly closed but opened up again wildly, however he succumbed to a  
  
deep slumber. It felt good to sleep...  
  
Hours later, as the sun's rays began to emerge from the snow mountains, the light  
  
struck Garet's face, causing his eyes to flutter open, welcomed by the morning breeze. As  
  
he rubbed his eyes with his furry mittens, the view of the iced combed plains came into  
  
clarity. Sleep called him once more, but as Garet closed his eyes, he realized he had to  
  
keep watch for the others and immediately woke up. Unfortunately, instead of seeing the  
  
beautiful tundra, the sight of a familiar water adept appeared.  
  
"A-!"  
  
Before he could finish the name, Alex brought up his hand to Garet's mouth and  
  
using little energy, the fire adept's face was infected with a deep blue frostbite. Chuckling  
  
to himself over his small triumph over the big oaf, Alex proceeded into the cave. Garet,  
  
unable to move his face because of the frostbite, was useless in alerting the others of the  
  
enemy's presence. What was even worse was that the cold icy plague was dispersing to  
  
his whole body! Alex searched across the ground and counted the number of adepts  
  
within the cave, including Garet, but he only counted 5. Who were the three missing?  
  
Before he could discover the identities of his sleeping prey, an unseen figure in  
  
the shadows leaped out and struck Alex in the arm!  
  
"AHH!" Alex screamed, "HOW DARE YOU!"  
  
"Garet could not last the night, sadly," Piers commented as he revealed himself  
  
from the dark, "I knew we were vulnerable to be attacked, and not to mention I knew you  
  
would be back. So Alex, did you miss something when you stole the teleport lapis? Or  
  
were you stupid and forgot to think about how you could only transport to places in your  
  
memories? You don't even know what Lemuria looks like! What a disgrace to my  
  
kind! Oh, my mistake, OUR KI-"  
  
"ENOUGH!" Alex roared as he recovered from the blow on his arm, thus  
  
unsheathing a mace.  
  
Without delay, Piers leaped again at his opponent, but in the process, he stepped  
  
on Sheba and he heard a small squeal. Seeing he was distracted, Alex took a large swing  
  
at Piers, barely missing him and cutting a few strips of cloth as well. Piers retreated away  
  
from the cave to avoid getting the others involved, also seeing Garet helpless with the  
  
ever-growing frostbite. Attempting to heal him, Piers pointed a finger at Garet's mouth  
  
and slowly his face began to be replenished with a healthy tan color.  
  
But again, Alex used this opportunity to attack Piers, and this time his hit was on-  
  
aim. Piers crumpled to the ground as he continued his barrage. Seeing Piers getting gored  
  
quite badly, Garet's rage skyrocketed and he grabbed his firebrand and rushed in to take a  
  
swing at Alex. Unfortunately, he was still wearing his mittens, thus when he began to  
  
swing, he lost grip of the sword and his weapon went flailing out onto a frozen pond.  
  
Smiling maliciously at his luck, Alex took a quick swipe at his nearly competent  
  
opponent, but just as he did, Piers fired a blast of diamond dust at his arm. Unable to  
  
deflect the attack, Alex's entire arm and his mace froze and could not hit Garet. Taking  
  
advantage of Piers' intervention, Garet blasted a flurry of fireballs out at Alex. The water  
  
adept sped off into the cave with the fireballs closely tailing him.  
  
"NO!" Piers yelled as he realized Alex's plan.  
  
Alex finally stopped running and turned around to face he fiery psynergy and  
  
although he dodged a few, he took a good beating from the others, thawing off the ice  
  
from his hands in the process. The other dodged fireballs rammed into an iced rock pillar  
  
and it immediately was destroyed. The cave began to shake and quiver, and before  
  
anything else could be done, Alex took out the Teleport Lapis and poofed away from the  
  
scene, his eerie cackles heard briefly beforehand. Piers, still laying down on the ground,  
  
was too bruised to get up, while Garet stood there in shock as he saw the other adepts  
  
waking up, only to witness their doom. Just as the cave began to collapse in, the two saw  
  
Sheba holding her hands up high in the air, which looked like an attempt to hold up the  
  
rocks, but she failed as the rocks finally fell down on the drowsy adepts. Seeing their  
  
defeat, Piers bashed a nearby fragment of ice with his fist in a sign of anger. Garet was  
  
still standing there speechless at the wreck he believed he had caused. Tears began to  
  
well up in his eyes, and he didn't care anymore if anyone saw them. He had lost four of  
  
his companions and friends, and that's all that mattered to him now.  
  
Before another tear could trickle down his face, random clusters of rocks from the  
  
fallen cave began to float higher and higher, until finally Garet and Piers could see small  
  
tornados lifting the boulders away from their friends. After a few moments, all the rocks  
  
were cleared from the site and out arose the other adepts thought to be gone!  
  
"Whew," Sheba sighed, "Those icicles were this close to impaling us!"  
  
"Yeah, thankfully we had a fire adept able to smoke those threats out!" Ivan said.  
  
"Whoa, Garet, what's wrong with you?" Jenna asked as she saw him wipe away  
  
the tears from his face, "Oh....hah, wait till I tell Isaac!"  
  
"You best don't!" Garet mumbled.  
  
"All right, enough of that," Mia said seriously, "I want to know who did all this!"  
  
"Alex...." Piers moaned as they finally realized that he was there, his body  
  
slashed with bloody wounds.  
  
"Piers! What did he do to you?" Mia shrieked as she began to cast a good amount  
  
of Ply on him.  
  
"These bruises do not bother me," Piers grumbled proudly, "At le-"  
  
"What are you talking about?" Jenna countered, "He got the teleport lapis, one of  
  
our most useful psynergy items! What more could he want?"  
  
Piers bit his lip but remained silent, still being glared at by Jenna.  
  
"I want an answer!" Jenna demanded, "You know it too!"  
  
"We cannot go down that road right now," Piers whispered, "It would take too  
  
long, and by then...."  
  
Before Jenna could ask anymore, Mia halted her and without another word, they  
  
began to grab their belongings and their journey back resumed. 


	6. V: Ethan

"We're here..."  
  
The last few steps to the Vault inn felt like miles for them, even though they  
  
traveled quite a ways already without one stop of rest, except for the time of Alex's raid.  
  
"Couldn't they just bring out the beds for us right here?" Garet moaned, "I feel  
  
like I'm going to drop right here, right now."  
  
The mood of the group was so sullen that they didn't have a smart remark or "shut  
  
up" for Garet. In fact, they started to agree with his idea, except for Piers. Ever since they  
  
left Imil, he had been extremely edgy with everything and never let his guard down, and  
  
supposedly for good reason. Jenna still hadn't received an answer to her question to Piers,  
  
and it was about time she and the others knew all that their fellow Mercury adept did.  
  
"I wouldn't ask him right now, Jenna, we're not out of danger yet." Sheba advised  
  
as Jenna looked at her in astonishment, slowly remembering that she had the ability to  
  
read minds.  
  
"HEY, STOP THAT!" Jenna yelled, "You little rat, reading my thoughts without  
  
me knowing it!"  
  
"Will you calm down and close that beak?" Garet said for a change, "Now, are we  
  
going to stand out here like idiots or go in and sleep in a nice cozy bed?"  
  
Coming to their senses, the adepts went into the inn at last, greeted by the friendly  
  
innkeeper Rausch.  
  
"Ah, my good adept friends!" he cheered, "Welcome back... how did the trip go?  
  
It don't look like things went well for you guys. Jenna, where's your rosy cheeks? A little  
  
walk and trot shouldn't flush you out that badly."  
  
"Ok, ok," Garet mumbled, "Can we go to our rooms already?"  
  
Rausch gave a cold look at Garet, glaring maliciously at his fiery hair.  
  
"Very well," Rausch smiled immediately again, "We've made extra preparations,  
  
so your belongings were moved from your old rooms to your one big suite!"  
  
Their faces brightened up like little children and immediately rushed to the stairs.  
  
"Oh, let my bellhop show you the way... Ethan! Come over here please! Show  
  
these gentlemen and ladies the suite."  
  
A thin lanky teenager came from the reception desk. Jenna looked at him and  
  
realized he looked very familiar... how come she never saw him here working at the inn  
  
before?  
  
"Oh you've never been introduced to my new employee, Ethan! He joined us  
  
during your absences and has proved to be quite helpful around here lately!"  
  
"Pleasure to meet all of you," he whispered shyly, "This way."  
  
All of them enthusiastically followed him up the stairs, but Rausch held Garet  
  
behind.  
  
"For you my friend... we have a very special room!" Rausch said, "Follow me.  
  
You can catch up with your buddy adepts later."  
  
"Cool!" Garet smiled weakly, waving at his friends.  
  
They went into the basement where more rooms were, all of them good choices to  
  
sleep in. However, they skipped the first few rooms down the wing until they reached the  
  
one at the end.  
  
"Here is your key..." Rausch said, "Good day."  
  
He walked off so quickly that Garet could not give a word of thanks to him. Using  
  
his key, he opened the door and expected a luxurious room, but instead got a small  
  
claustrophobic room that could fit well... for a squirrel!  
  
"Hey, this some kind of joke?" Garet yelled as he turned around to Rausch, but  
  
the innkeeper had disappeared.  
  
* * *  
  
Meanwhile, Ethan was escorting the others to the suite.  
  
"What are your names?" he blurted out, forgetting that he was supposed to create  
  
conversation with guests.  
  
"Piers."  
  
"Sheba."  
  
"Ivan."  
  
"Mia."  
  
"Jenna."  
  
The last name echoed in Ethan's mind. Why did it seem so familiar? The girl  
  
"Jenna" also seemed very recognizable, but he couldn't put a finger on where he saw her.  
  
The fiery-headed boy that Rausch was talking to also rang a bell, but... Ethan got rid of  
  
those thoughts. He would eventually find out more, hopefully. Memories of his past  
  
never came too easily or quickly to him.  
  
"Here we are," he reported as they came to a door, "Welcome to the best we can  
  
offer!"  
  
Opening the door with a special key, a lavish great room was revealed with  
  
several beds laid out in a circular shape. Their jaws dropped at the sight of the beautiful  
  
suite.  
  
"Strange," Piers said, "Five beds?"  
  
"Garet's sleeping downstairs, remember?" Jenna explained.  
  
Piers nodded and walked to the first bed, falling on the bed.  
  
"Oh so relaxing..."  
  
The others followed and picked out their beds, succumbing to their weary minds  
  
that needed much rest.  
  
"If you need anything else, contact the desk," Ethan said, motioning to a golden  
  
funnel, "Enjoy yourselves."  
  
He left the room quietly, but Jenna followed him out, still intent on finding out  
  
where and how she seemed to know this man.  
  
"Hey, wait up!"  
  
Ethan instantly stopped and was glad that it was Jenna. Now he could get some  
  
answers as well.  
  
"So," she said, "You said your name was Ethan?"  
  
"Indeed it is, milady."  
  
"I know this sounds preposterous, but you look familiar to me, like we used to  
  
know each other." Jenna said.  
  
"No, actually, it is not preposterous" Ethan chuckled, "I was thinking the same.  
  
Have we met before?"  
  
"I think we have," Jenna replied, "But I'm not sure when or where... have you  
  
ever been to the town of Vale?"  
  
"Actually, I lived there when I was a boy, but I moved away a few days after that  
  
storm on Mount Aleph."  
  
"Ah, so you are the Ethan I was thinking of!"  
  
"Likewise... I mean, you seemed to be from my memories at Vale too."  
  
"Yeah," Jenna giggled, "I kind of hung out with Isaac, Garet, and my brother  
  
more... I'm sorry about that. Oh, that's right! You do know Garet is here with me too?"  
  
"That name rings a bell," Ethan said, "Do you mean that big fiery- headed brute?"  
  
"That would be him." Jenna laughed, "You remember Felix and Isaac? They  
  
didn't come with us back to Vault."  
  
"I'm sorry," Ethan replied, "Vale seems so long ago, and I have been taught to  
  
abandon those thoughts... but it's slowly coming back to me. But, for sure, I remember  
  
you from Vale."  
  
"Thanks. Taught? What do you-"  
  
"Hey! Who's there?"  
  
Garet ran out from the adjacent corridor, panting and wheezing, surprised as much  
  
as Ethan and Jenna.  
  
"Am I... interrupting something?" Garet asked oddly, "Jenna, who's this guy?"  
  
"Oh, Garet, you're just in time." Jenna said, "Remember Ethan? The boy from  
  
Vale that moved away few years ago?"  
  
"Pleasure to meet you," Ethan said, reaching out his hand to Garet's.  
  
"Same," Garet quickly replied, "Oh, by the way, tell your boss that my room's a  
  
bit small. I don't know if it's a joke, but-"  
  
"Silly me!" Jenna interrupted, "I forgot to ask, but how come I've never seen you  
  
work around here? This kind of a part-time job you're doing to help the family?"  
  
"My family is deceased." Ethan muttered, "This is my full-time job. I'm kind of a  
  
wanderer... wherever the wind takes me."  
  
"I'm so sorry!" Jenna immediately said, hugging him, "I didn't know..."  
  
"It's quite all right." He replied.  
  
"Well, I'm starving!" Garet grunted, breaking the drama, "Let's get a bite to eat  
  
downstairs! My treat!"  
  
"Yeah, ok, in a second," Jenna said, "How about you check out our room? You  
  
haven't seen it yet. Afterwards, we'll head down."  
  
Without another word, Garet headed down the hall and entered their room.  
  
Suddenly he heard ruffling bed sheets and saw Mia waking up from her nap.  
  
"Isn't this a nice room?" Mia asked.  
  
"Yeah, terrific," Garet mumbled.  
  
"Where did Jenna go?" she wondered, "Everyone else is here except her."  
  
"She's with some guy that she says I knew back in Vale."  
  
"Oh really? That's nice."  
  
"Yeah, terrific."  
  
There was a long silence between the two of them. Garet did not want to continue  
  
the conversation and pretended to be looking around at the room, but Mia knew what he  
  
was really thinking about. Knowing Garet's personality, she thought it best not to give  
  
advice to him, so she went back to sleep. 


End file.
